St. Robert Bellarmine Center for Learning

SRBCL pioneer pupil, Arlean Liabelle P. Lomboy, who recently migrated to Canada with her whole family is making us proud with her academic achievements less than two months into their school term.

Lean who has been an SRBCL pupil since her toddler years, was awarded an International Baccalaureate Certificate for being knowledgeable for the first quarter for her grade level. Lean is currently a Grade VI pupil at the Annunciation Catholic School in Edmonton, Canada. Two pupils for each grade level are chosen each quarter for the IB Certificate.

Also early in the school year, she was a spelling bee contestant in her new school.

Lean was a consistent medalist at SRBCL from her preschool years to her grade school levels. She finished fifth grade at SRBCL last school year (SY 2008- 2009) before leaving for Canada. She is the daughter of Engr. Andre and Mrs. Arlene Lomboy.

The school held its annual Literary Arts Festival last December 1, Tuesday. The occasion which had been postponed from the original date of November 27 showcased the different talents of the SRBCL student populace. It also featured a pageant of elaborate international costumes donned by the cute preschool children.

This year, the activity was renamed Literary and Arts Festival to put emphasis on the fact that the school concentrated on tapping the special skills of the pupils in various art forms such as singing and dancing and not merely focusing on literary skills. This year’s event also did away with the competition part to make the pupils feel more at ease participating or trying a new skill.

The morning event at Bellarmine Hall was well-attended by family and friends and the pupils’ effort much appreciated and applauded.

View Pictures of Literary and Arts Festival 2009.

Hiraya Productions staged “Adarna. 2088” in Dagupan last November 17 at the Dagupan City Astrodome. The play is a modernized version of the Filipino classic Ibong Adarna by Jose de la Cruz. This version likewise injected the timely themes of climate change and the extreme importance of caring for the environment.

The audience of mostly school-aged children, including a number of SRBCL pupils enjoyed the upbeat staging of the play and greatly relished the use of modern music and dance.

SRBCL appreciates and promotes these kinds of activities since it affords its pupils a chance to appreciate a wide range of art forms that can at times be sorely lacking in provincial areas such as Pangasinan.

Typhoons and class cancellations notwithstanding, SRBCL was still able to pack activities into the semester to make the pupils’ learning more rounded. Extra-curricular activities meant to extend and enhance the classroom lessons were included as much as possible to make the learning more meaningful to the pupils.

COMMUNITY TOUR:  The preschool pupils were given a tour of Dagupan City highlighting the different community places that children learned in their Communication Arts class. A visit to the police station and fire station where they were graciously accommodated proved to be very educational to the pupils.

GARDEN PLANTING: The Grades V and VI HELE classes tried their hand at vegetable gardening, an activity which unfortunately very few children nowadays try and enjoy.  Conversely, the pupils approached the activity with much enthusiasm, interest and skill.

FILM VIEWING, LECTURES & RESEARCH TIME: As much as practicable the pupils were given a chance to view films related to their lessons to engage more of their senses. Lectures aided with PowerPoint presentations and short films were also an additional feature this school year.  To extend lessons further, pupils were given more time to research on topics using the Internet.

The culminating activity of SRBCL for the semester  last October 28, Wednesday was a day of exhibits, film showing, games and activities that promoted awareness of international cultures and the importance of the environment.

The children were treated to a display of dioramas depicting the different features of the world’s continents and some chosen countries. A collection of dolls wearing international costumes was also part of the exhibit.

To enhance the pupils’ learning on the environment the preschoolers watched a film on one the world’s more lovable endangered animals, the panda. The movie, “Panda” chronicled the tedious and painstaking transfer of two pandas from the protected wilds of China to a zoo in the United States.  On the other hand, the grade school pupils watched one of the award-winning documentary films prepared by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), “Planet Earth.” The film tackled the importance of caring for the environment and the animal species that we now have. It showed and discussed in graphic detail the delicate situation existing in animal habitats worldwide.

To round off the experience and to inject a dose of fun in the activity, most of the grade school pupils enjoyed a game or two of Bingo. The pupils gamely participated in the fund-raising activity of the Grade VI class, the proceeds of which will contribute to their Science project fund.  The two winners for the black-out Bingo games were Queenie Chelzea Estrada and Angela Aguinaldo.

For the activity, the pupils were encouraged to wear costumes or souvenir shirts from different parts of the world or shirt with environmental slogans on them.

The yearly pet show, an activity primarily aimed to extend the lessons of the preschoolers in Science was once again a hit among the pupils despite the relatively small number of pets this year as compared to last year’s event.

Pupils from the preschool and grade school levels were encouraged to bring their pets last October 21, Wednesday and have them on display for the day.

The three puppies during that day, Jamina Joaquin’s “Mutley”, Carl and Chelsea Gonzales’ “Coco,” and Raymond, Gino and Sabrina Bernal’s “Goldy” were a crowd pleaser as well as Sean Basto’s cuddly short- haired bunny, “Comet.”

Birds and fishes as always number the most, while not lagging too far behind were the turtles brought by Allyson Reyes (Prep) and Neil Maramba (Nursery).

The bird lovers this year were Lilian Aiza Gubatan (Toddler) and brother, Gero Sebastian (Kinder), Hans Ferrer (Kinder), Ken Patryk Chua of the Grade I and Terence Rosario of the Grade IV.

Fishes of varying shapes, breeds and sizes were brought by Khier Matthew Bravo (Nursery), Benedict de Venecia (Nursery), Mikee Ugto (Nursery), Althea Tinquico (Kinder), Elijah River Febreo (Prep), Angela Aguinaldo (Grade II), Nathan Matthew Barredo (Grade II), Francis Aeron Tinquico (Grade II), and CJ Sta. Maria (Grade III).

View Pictures of Pet Show 2009.

Delayed by a few days because of Typhoon Pepeng, Scholastic Books Inc. opened its book fair in the school last October 15, Thursday. The week-long activity had the company promoting and selling books to the school’s populace.

The pupils who have been waiting for the company’s return since the first book fair sponsored by Scholastic were quite happy with the book selections this year. They immediately noticed that there are more books and book titles.

Michelle Ann Rabelas from last years’ sales group was once again part of this year’s book fair. She along with Romano Librea manned the booth from October 15 – October 21. Jonathan “Reggie” Habla, another member of their group, held a story telling activity for the preschoolers and primary level pupils last October 20, Tuesday.

View Pictures of Scholastic Book Fair 2009.

In a show of community spirit and service, the SRBCL community as one donated a van load of food and old clothes to the typhoon victims of “Ondoy” last October 7, not knowing that a mere two days after, the city itself will be affected by Typhoon Pepeng.

Donors from outside the SRBCL community mainly close friends of Teacher Renee, and a few of the SRBCL families responded to the call for a second round of donations, for victims closer to home.

Cash donations collected was enough to make 235 bags of rice with assorted groceries, 150 of which went to Barangay Boquig of Bonuan, one of the most water-logged areas of Dagupan City during the typhoon, and the remainder of the grocery bags went to some selected families in Mangaldan and the families of the SRBCL faculty severely affected by the calamity. Mrs. Balbina Reyes, a longtime resident of Barangay Boquig and grandmother of SRBCL pupils Gene and Glaiza Reyes, acted as coordinator for their area, while Teacher Anna Aguinaldo was in-charge of selecting the families in Mangaldan.

SRBCL is extremely appreciative of the generosity of Ms. Annabelle Arceo, Ms. Susan Capalaran, and Ms. Natalie Yap.

View Pictures of Donations for victims of Typhoon Pepeng.

Class cancellations due to Typhoon Pepeng resulted in the adjustment of previously scheduled activities.

Herewith are the new dates:

ACTIVITY                                 OLD DATE                NEW DATE
1.    Pet Show                              Oct. 9, Fri                Oct. 21, Wed
2.    Book Fair                             Oct. 12 – 16             Oct. 15 – 21
3.    2nd Quarter Exams          Oct. 16, 19- 20       Oct. 23, 26, Nov. 6 and 9
4.    UN Celebration                Oct. 28 (Wed)            No Change

•    Exams schedules have already been distributed and are posted on the school’s bulletin boards.

Typhoon Pepeng (International Name: Parma) left a swath of destruction through most of Pangasinan and nearby provinces last October 9- 10. The rains fell non-stop through much of Thursday afternoon and Friday, forcing the dams around Northern Luzon to open their gates and release some water to relieve the waters’ pressure. Unfortunately, either through lack of fore warning, or apathy, a lot of people were left unaware, getting themselves caught in the rampaging flood waters.

The massive flooding that resulted inundated even places formerly left untouched by floods, the area around SRBCL being one of them. In all its years of existence the school not once experience any form of flooding except during Pepeng’s wake.

Vigilant of flood alarms, the school’s administration and some of the faculty had more than enough time to transfer important and valuable school equipment and records to safety before six to eight inches of flood water totally covered the school’s ground floor.

Constructed almost a meter higher than the main road SRBCL fared better than most of its neighboring homes and structures. At the height of the storm the school provided shelter to no less than twenty families counting among them a grandmother in her eighties and a two-day old baby.

Not a day passed after the flood waters subsided, SRBCL was able to wipe, scrub, and disinfect all traces of the flood from the premises. So much so that by Sunday, October 11, the school was more than ready to welcome the students back the next day.

View Pictures of  Typhoon Pepeng.